Sable Island Bats

Occasionally another `terrestrial mammal' occurs on Sable Island. Although not common, every now and then one or two bats are seen feeding in the air around the station buildings at dusk, or are found huddled under piles of wood or in some other sheltered nook. Few of these wayward bats have been identified. In autumn 2002, however, a silver-haired bat Lasionycteris noctivagans and a red bat Lasiurus borealis were seen on the island.
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	Early in the morning of September 14th, a silver-haired bat was found in the Stevenson screen at the station. The bat appeared to be sunning itself - with head and back exposed, it clutched a slat on the east-facing (sunny side) of the screen, and later when that side fell into shade, the bat moved into the sunshine on the south side of the screen. The bat was gone by early evening and not seen there again. Occasionally, during the next few weeks, a solitary bat flew around the buildings at dusk but could not be identified.
	On October 8th, between 3:00 pm and 4:00 pm, a red bat was seen flying, and apparently feeding, around buildings at the station. The bat remained in sight for about 30 minutes before heading off in the direction of the freshwater ponds.

There are three species of "tree bats", and silver-haired and red bats are two of them. The third species is the hoary bat Lasiurus cinereus. Since the island does not offer suitable habitat for tree bats, it is most likely that these are individuals blown off course while migrating. Both silver-haired and red bats are known to turn up on ships or oceanic islands (e.g. Bermuda) during their migration periods. This is the first confirmed report of a silver-haired bat, and the second confirmed report of a red bat, on Sable Island. A red bat was caught near the ponds in July, 1976.

Thanks to Andrew Hebda of the Nova Scotia Museum of Natural History, Halifax, and Bat Conservation International, Inc., for help with species identification.

References:

Peterson, R. L. 1966. The Mammals of Eastern Canada. Oxford University Press, Cambridge.
Nowak, R. M. 1991. Walker's Mammals of the World, 5th Edition, Volume 1. The Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore.

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